Ten Seconds
by rubycaspar
Summary: Team fic with a Becker/Jess edge. The team are out for a drink and Abby and Connor introduce the guys to a certain betting game they like to play involving Jess and the various guys who inevitably try to chat her up.


Just finished watching tonight's episode – amazing. I seriously couldn't love Jess any more than I do, she is just too adorable. And Becker's right, she's very brave. More squeeing after the story.

I had the idea for this one the other day. Quite team-ish, no real introspection from anyone... enjoy!

_**Ten Seconds**_

It had been a long day and the team were unwinding in one of the local bars. It was a Friday night and the bar was busy – the five of them were seated around a small corner table, swapping stories and laughing over stupid jokes. It was good to just relax together.

They had pooled their money together to get drinks, and Jess, who was in the seat easiest to get up from, grabbed some of it to go to the bar to get another round in.

As soon as she left the table, Abby and Connor bent their heads together over Connor's mobile phone.

"Forty-five," Abby said.

"Aw I was gonna say that!" Connor said. "Okay, fifty."

Abby looked over at Jess, who had just reached the bar. "Okay... go," she said. Connor pressed a button on his phone and a stopwatch started.

"What are you two doing?" Matt asked them.

"It's a game we play when we're out with Jess," Abby told him and Becker. "She loves going to the bar to get the drinks, and whenever she does we make bets on how long it takes for a guy to go up to her."

"_What_?" Becker exclaimed, looking scandalised.

Abby didn't answer – she was watching the bar. "Look.," she said, putting her hand on Connor's arm. "Blondie at two o'clock."

They all looked up and saw what Abby was talking about – a tall, lanky guy with bleach-blond hair was eyeing Jess appreciatively.

Connor grinned. "Target acquired..." he said, watching the guy, "liquid courage..." – the guy downed the rest of the drink he was holding – "and off he goes." The guy started walking towards Jess. He sidled up next to her at the bar and gave her a charming smile.

"Stop!" Connor said, pressing another button. "49 seconds! Yes! Pay up."

Abby glared at him and handed over a fiver. "I'll get you next time," she said.

Becker, who had been watching as Jess seemed to politely say no to the blond guy's offer to buy her a drink, looked back at them with a frown. "Next time?" He asked.

"Oh yeah, you can play it all night," Connor said. He took in Becker's unimpressed look and shrugged. "We only started doing it after we noticed _how many times _Jess gets chatted up in bars," he said. He held up his hands. "It's _incredible_. We attribute it to the wide-eyed innocent look and the short skirts."

Becker shook his head and turned away from them as Jess approached the table with their drinks on a small round tray, and didn't notice them smirk at each other.

XXX

Half an hour later, it started again.

"I'll go get another round," Jess said, standing up.

"It's okay, I'll go," Becker said. He tried to stand up too but he was right in the corner, the table pushed up right against him.

Jess waved a hand at him, shaking her head. "Don't be silly, you're trapped on that side of the table; I'll be back in a minute," she said. She picked up some money and walked away.

Becker sat back again to find the other three glaring at him.

"You're such a spoil sport," Matt said, shaking his head. He turned to Abby and Connor. "I'm in – fifty-five."

"No, Jess is looking pretty hot tonight," said Abby musingly. "I'm gonna go 45 again."

"I think I'll go lower this time," said Connor. "Forty."

"Becker?" Abby asked. His answering glare said it all.

Connor started the stopwatch again and they all watched Jess ordering their drinks. Becker scanned the room, glaring at each man he saw looking at Jess – and there were a _lot._ One man broke away from his friends and approached her: Becker gritted his teeth.

"What was that?" Matt asked.

Connor groaned. "Forty-seven," he said.

"Yes!" Abby whooped. "Pay up – both of you." Connor and Matt both handed her a fiver, which Abby took with a huge grin on her face.

"Ooh, it's much more fun winning when there's more than two people playing," she said teasingly, fanning herself with her fivers.

Becker was still watching the guy who was talking to Jess. Unlike the last guy, he didn't seem to be taking rejection so well. That, or he wasn't _being _rejected. Jess laughed at something the guy said and nodded.

"It looks like this one might actually be getting somewhere..." Connor said, noticing too.

They all looked round at Jess, who was still talking to the guy. They saw him hand her a slip of paper, which she took with a grin and a shake of her head, before picking up their tray of drinks and heading back to them.

Becker folded his arms and glared at the guy at the bar, who didn't notice because he was watching Jess walk away.

Connor and Abby grinned.

XXX

The guy who'd given Jess his number left with his friends not long afterwards, which was good for him because Becker hadn't stopped glaring at him since Jess had sat back down. Jess didn't seem to notice, too intent on swapping computer stories with Connor.

Connor, Abby and Matt were all drinking their drinks very quickly, Becker noticed – and the significant looks they were giving each other were really starting to annoy him. Becker had barely touched his drink. He knew that any minute now Jess would get to the bottom of her glass and offer to get another round – and then another one of these dumb guys would try their luck.

The others could barely contain their excited grins when Jess stood up – a little unsteadily – and offered to get another round in. She grinned at them all and tottered back to the bar.

"Forty-five's my lucky number tonight," Abby said immediately.

"Fifty for me," said Connor.

"I think I'll go forty this time," said Matt.

"Ten," said Becker through gritted teeth, his eyes on Jess.

Abby stared at him. "What?"

"Put me down for ten," Becker repeated, still watching Jess.

"Okay..." Jess had reached the bar. "Ooh – start!"

Becker grabbed the edge of the table and pushed it away from him – glasses wobbled but nothing tipped, and as soon as he had enough space he jumped to his feet and almost pushed Matt's face into the tabletop as he barged past him. The others watched, gaping slightly, as he pushed his way through the crowd and stepped up next to Jess at the bar, leaning over her to say something in her ear. She jerked back to look at him, obviously surprised, and then grinned.

There was a beep as Connor stopped the timer on his phone. "Eight seconds," he said. "Becker wins."

They all looked over to where Becker was now saying something to the barman, his hand resting lightly on the small of Jess' back.

"I think he does," Matt said, chuckling.

"What's the time?" Abby asked Connor. He picked up his phone to check.

"Er... an hour and twenty-two minutes," he said. His face fell, and Abby's broke into a grin.

"Ha! In your face!" She exclaimed.

"Two minutes you won by!" Connor said, slumping back in his seat. "Ugh."

Matt frowned. "What are you guys on about?"

Abby grinned at him. "We've been playing a new game tonight – how long until Becker cracks?" She and Connor smirked at each other.

Matt shook his head. "You guys are so evil," he said, starting to smile.

Connor winked. "We try."

Abby nodded towards the bar, smirking. "I don't think he's gonna complain," she said.

They all looked; Becker was just handing money over for the drinks the barman had brought them – of which there were only two – and once they had them in hand he and Jess started to walk away to the other end of the club, Becker's hand still on her back, without a single look back at the others.

Abby, Connor and Matt smiled indulgently after them until Connor voiced a troubling thought.

"What about our drinks?"

"I'll get them," Abby said, getting up and heading to the bar.

Connor grinned at Matt. "Well I'm glad that worked – Abby and I had a few other ideas to get him to finally make a move, but I don't think any of them would have done the job," he said.

"Do I want to know?" Matt asked.

"Probably not."

There was a moment's silence before Matt glanced at the bar and snorted. "Maybe we should have placed some bets on Abby," he said, nodding over to her.

Connor looked up to see a beefy guy with brown hair leaning over her, and he sat up straight. "Hey – hold up!" He exclaimed, frowning. He jumped up and hurried away.

Matt shook his head as he watched Connor weave his way through the crowd to the bar. It was all fun and games tonight.

_The End_

Okay, back to the awesomeness of tonight's episode. I loved seeing Jenny again, and I'm glad she's ended up happy. This episode was, in my opinion, the first one since the first of this season that had any Connor/Abby cuteness, which is something I've sorely missed and one of the reasons I've latched onto Becker/Jess the way I have. Speaking of... OMG how CUTE can you get? Jess turning up with Chinese and Becker all "I know where you live..." LOL and Jess falling asleep on his shoulder - and the bomb, and their massive hug... I loved Becker quickly jumping away when the other soldiers came in. As for Ethan - I am now certain sure that he's Danny's long-lost brother, which is AWESOME and I can only hope that Danny will come back next week. Even if it's just for five minutes - I miss him like crazy! And poor Matt. My crazy theory since first seeing the webisodes is that Matt's father is actually future!Connor. Probably insane, but I just think that would be cool. Okay, shutting up now. :D


End file.
